


A Restless Night

by ZephiraZ



Category: Dragon Quest Builders (Video Games)
Genre: Blood and Injury, Body Horror, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-21
Updated: 2019-09-21
Packaged: 2020-10-25 05:07:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20718593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZephiraZ/pseuds/ZephiraZ
Summary: Some things cannot be easily forgotten, even in the comfort of home.





	A Restless Night

Malroth couldn't be happier. 

He had finally settled into a peaceful life with his best friend. While they'd had a rather intimate relationship since Khrumbul-Dun, they'd only had the time to truly enjoy it more recently. Just this morning, his dear builder Kane had surprised him with his own version of a holiday from Cantlin—Valentine's Day, he'd called it. Perhaps the date wasn't quite right, and it earned them some giggles from the island residents, but Malroth couldn't argue with waking up to a house filled with his favourite flowers, an extra-special breakfast of steak and more steak, a walk through the beautifully blooming forest and animal park, and a romantic battle against a ferocious dragon. 

Hell, he could get used to this. As Malroth watched Kane dozing peacefully in his arms, thoughts of how he might return the favor the next morning flitted through his mind. 

But that was for tomorrow.

Tonight, he was content to lounge in their shared bed and hold his builder close. Nothing put him more at ease than watching the steady rise and fall of Kane's bare chest, nor the sound of his soft snoring. Of course, Kane would deny ever making a sound in his sleep, but Malroth cherished it, for it was proof that Kane still lived and breathed.

Malroth drifted off to sleep, content.

He awoke some time later, groggy and disoriented. Had there been a noise? The room was dark and silent, so it must have still been night. Well, no matter. Malroth gently squeezed Kane to his side and closed his eyes once more, ready for Kane's snoring to lull him back to sleep. 

Except, Kane wasn't snoring.

Malroth opened his eyes, now fully alert, and looked down at the man curled up beside him. Kane's chest wasn't moving. He was completely still. 

"Kane…?" Malroth said.

No response.

"Kane, wake up," he repeated, panic creeping into his voice. "C'mon, quit fooling around!”

Malroth poked Kane’s chest to wake him, but the skin split like the taut flesh of a spoilspore and his finger plunged into Kane’s ribcage. From where Kane’s chest had been punctured, rot spread outward, quickly consuming every inch of the builder’s bare skin. Kane’s chest collapsed with a plume of dust and his head lolled to the side, glassy eyes staring balefully forward. Where once the builder lay in his arms, Malroth held now a desiccated corpse. 

Malroth frantically disentangled himself and tumbled out of bed with a stifled yelp. He landed hard on his hands and knees, and found the floor wet, covered in an inch of dark fluid. He sat up slowly and stared at his trembling hands, stained red. Just what was going on here? This had to be a dream, right?

His thoughts were answered by a high-pitched laugh, directly behind him. Malroth whipped around, but nothing was there. Not Kane, nor their bed—even the walls had fallen away. Nothing lay beyond but a yawning void, pressing in with such oppressive darkness that Malroth felt he could drown in it, and a fetid field of placid blood stretching to the far horizon. 

“What- Where? Kane, where are you?!” Malroth sputtered, then cursed himself for even asking. He’d seen it with his own eyes; Kane was dead. But that couldn’t be real, he’d been so cheery and warm just hours before… 

Again the laugh rang out, harsh and shrill. The air shimmered, like heat radiating above volcanic stone. Two pinpoints of light flared to life before Malroth, and a blinding crescent of sharp teeth rent the air below them. Malroth stared wide-eyed at this ghastly face, until the teeth split into a grin wider than sight and lunged straight for him. He stepped back, nearly tripping over his own feet, and swiped at the apparition. The face shattered on contact and engulfed him in a cloud of splinters, nicking and slicing his skin in their haste to reform behind him. 

The twin lights again erupted above the laughing maw. This time, however, a face grew around them; fresh bone grew from the teeth, forming a jawline, a skull, knitting its way down to form a full skeleton. Muscle and sinew blossomed across the bones, sprouting skin and scales like lichen on old bark. At last a layer of silken robes shimmered into being, and Hargon opened his eyes. 

“You-” Malroth choked out. Finally, he had found his voice. “You bastard! Get away from me! Get out of my life!” He again lashed out, focusing all of his fear and loathing on the figure before him. With a heated pull deep in his gut, he conjured a pair of monstrous arms, one at either side of him, and swatted at his hated master. But Hargon eluded his grasp, merely ceasing to be and reappearing some distance away. Malroth roared and charged, swinging madly as Hargon danced just out of reach. Malroth lunged once more, but came up short when an invisible force caught him full in the chest and flattened him out, knocking the breath from his lungs. Still, he could not give in. Hargon’s mocking face floated just before his eyes. Malroth reached out and gripped the fiend’s neck, ready to squeeze the life out of him if need be. 

“M-Malroth, wake up! Please, wake up!” 

Hargon’s face flickered, and Malroth blinked hard.

He couldn’t give in now. 

“Malroth, please…”

The shadows tore themselves from Malroth’s eyes and he sucked in a deep breath, light and sound assaulting him from all sides.

It was dark, but not the crushing darkness of his dreams. Stars pierced the sky above, where the roof should have been. Gentle wind wandered through the splintered walls, carrying alarmed voices fom the crowd gathered beyond the borders of his ruined home.

And atop him sat his beloved, Kane’s tearful, blood-soaked face smiling warmly down at him, his lips tinged blue. A horrid gash split the builder’s forehead, the wound weeping freely. Too late, Malroth saw his own hands were wrapped around the builder’s neck. He let go at once, and Kane fell sideways, facefirst onto the wooden floorboards. 

“No, no no no,” Malroth whimpered, a chill piercing his heart. He sat up and rolled Kane onto his back, but the builder’s chest was still.

This couldn’t be happening. Not now.

Malroth shut his eyes and breathed deeply. He couldn’t panic. Not now. Not again. He would not lose Kane, not after everything they’d been through together. 

He felt that warm tugging in his gut once more, but rather than fear and loathing, he fueled it with love. Light. Laughter. Resolve. Everything he’d ever felt when gazing upon Kane’s smiling face. The warmth grew until it was a radiant, burning light. He condensed this light into the palms of his hands, then focused it downwards. The force of his determination sealed the gash in Kane’s forehead, coaxed his lungs to life. Finally, the builder breathed again. 

“Hey there, handsome,” said a weak voice. Malroth opened his eyes at last, and nearly sobbed at the sight that greeted him. Kane beamed up at Malroth, light dancing in his eyes despite the wreckage they now occupied. “Bad dreams get ya?”

“Yeah, uh… I had a nightmare. I think.”

Kane laughed, warm and pure, chasing away the last of the shadows clinging to Malroth’s mind. “That’s alright. We’re still here, yeah? No nightmare can hurt you so long as we’ve got each other.”

“But… Our house. I ruined it, ruined everything…”

“Hey now, that thing was ugly anyway! We can build a new one. Together. Whadd’ya say?” 

Malroth wanted to argue, wanted to scream that this would just happen again, but his hesitance withered before the builder’s relentless optimism. Whatever came, they would get through it together.

“Yeah. We’ll build a new one. Together.”

**Author's Note:**

> Some backstory; when I played Dragon Warrior Monsters 2, I accidentally wound up with my Malroth/Sidoh as my primary healer. He's sure to remember that when it matters, all this time later. He's doing a good job!


End file.
